Consumerism & the Limits to Imagination

Consumer capitalism dominates our economy, our politics, and our culture, even though a growing body of research suggests it may be well past its sell-by date. In this illustrated presentation based on his latest critically acclaimed book, media scholar Justin Lewis makes a compelling case that consumer capitalism can no longer deliver on its promise of enhancing quality of life, and argues that changing direction will require changing our media system and our cultural environment. After showing how consumer capitalism has become economically and environmentally unsustainable, Lewis explores how our cultural and information industries make it difficult to envision other forms of human progress by limiting critical thinking and keeping us locked in a cycle of consumption. And he argues that change will only be possible if we take culture seriously and transform the very way we organize our media and communications systems.

Selected to screen at the 2015 American Sociological Association Conference

"Justin Lewis is one of the world's most acute observers of contemporary cultural politics. Consumerism & the Limits to Imagination alerts us, in an incisive but always humane way, to the excesses of consumption. This is a video with abiding lessons for us all."
- Toby Miller | Professor of Media & Cultural Studies, University of Cardiff

"Lewis provides viewers with a trenchant and timely critique of the dominant social system of our time, showing how consumer capitalism undermines the well-being of humans and the planet. I found particularly fascinating and provocative his insights about the ways that media and marketing undermine our collective ability to imagine alternatives to this damaging way of living."
- Tim Kasser | Professor of Psychology at Knox College | Author of The High Price of Materialism and Psychology and Consumer Culture

"This is an outstanding video that captures, in vivid and compelling ways, the curse of consumer capitalism. It combines images that will stay with you with a keen analysis of the issues we all face. Ask family or friends to get together and watch it to -- and we all be richer, I mean better, for it."
- Amitai Etzioni | University Professor at The George Washington University | Author of The New Normal

"The idea and practice of indefinite economic growth fuel the current destroying of our planet. Consumer capitalism and its cultural institutions shape citizens that incessantly long for cheaper and more consumer products, while citizens are not becoming happier. Engaging lectures and films like this is precisely what is needed to save our capabilities to envision more sustainable futures that also bring real quality of life. Justin Lewis shoots bull's eye in his review of this fundamental and very difficult issue."
- Magnus Boström | Professor in the School of Humanities, Education, and Social Sciences at Örebro University | Co-author of Eco-Standards, Product Labelling, and Green Consumerism